Her mother had been declared brain dead two days before she was born. Now baby Aya Jayne, weighing little over 2lb, is in intensive care

Then they delivered baby Aya Jayne by caesarean section. At 26 weeks, she weighed just 2lb 11/2oz.

The tiny infant was placed on her mother's shoulder for a moment before being handed to her father, Mahmoud Soliman.

Aya - her name is a word from the Koran meaning miracle - is now doing well in hospital while 29-year-old Mr Soliman struggles to cope with the misery of suddenly losing his wife and the joy of becoming a father.

Mahmoud Soliman with his wife Jayne who suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage before the birth of her daughter

'It was Jayne's one true wish to be a mum - and she would have been a great mum,' he said at the couple's home in Bracknell, Berkshire.

Mrs Soliman, formerly Jayne Campbell, was British Free Skating champion in 1989, the same year she was rated seventh in the world.

She went on to become a figure-skating teacher and had a spell in Abu Dhabi, where she met her Egyptian-born husband-to-be.

Law graduate Mr Soliman said that when they met it was 'love at first sight' despite her worries over their age difference.

She converted to Islam before their wedding. Upon their arrival in Britain Mr Soliman began studying for a business masters degree.

Mrs Soliman had been healthy throughout her pregnancy, and continued working as a coach at Bracknell Skating Club. She was on the ice last Wednesday before she suddenly collapsed in her bedroom after complaining of a headache.

She was flown by air ambulance to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford but hours later, in the early evening, was declared brain dead.

Doctors told devastated Mr Soliman that an aggressive tumour had rapidly developed in her brain in just a few weeks - and had suddenly ruptured a major blood vessel.

But although she had suffered brain death, her heart could still be kept pumping on a life-support machine, and the doctors were hopeful her daughter could be born.

A mother's body remains the best incubator for a baby, even if she is brain-dead, but it is still wise for birth to be carried out as soon as the foetus is considered viable because infections can develop and spread to the baby.

'Love at first sight': Mahmoud Soliman and Jayne Campbell married in 2007

Mr Soliman said that since their marriage in May 2007 his wife had been devastated to suffer a miscarriage but was delighted when she became pregnant again.

'I can remember the first scan,' he said. 'We just hugged each other and kept crying when we saw the heartbeat. It was this tiny speck beating.

'We were so looking forward to the baby coming.'

He wept as he recalled his wife's final hours. 'The doctors told me there was nothing they could do for Jayne but they needed her to stay strong for 48 hours to help our unborn child.

'Her heart kept beating strongly for 48 hours and her body never gave up.'

Jayne Soliman with friends Holly Kirkbride,(left), and Nads Bark-Nightingale (right) who set up a Facebook page in honour of their friend

The couple had chosen names for the baby - Ali for a boy or Maggie for a girl. But Mr Soliman decided it had to be Aya Jayne after the traumatic events of last week.

His wife's funeral was held in Reading on Saturday, with 300 mourners including many from the skating world.

He was initially told his daughter might have to remain in the intensive care unit at John Radcliffe for more than two weeks, but she was doing so well that she was transferred to hospital in Reading on the day of her mother's funeral.

Mr Soliman is still too distraught to plan ahead, but knows what he will be telling his daughter as soon as she is old enough to understand.

Jayne in action during her champion ice-skating days in the 1980s

He said: 'I will tell her what a lovely, lovely mum she had who would have loved her so much.

'I was the one who always used to tell Jayney, "If I die, do this".

She used to say, "Don't die and leave me" - but last week she did leave me. She is my angel in paradise.'

The couple's friends David Phillips, 48, and his wife Lucine, both keen ice skaters, were at the hospital for the last moments of Mrs Soliman and the arrival of her daughter.

Mrs Phillips said: 'Aya was born kicking and wriggling. It's hard to describe the emotions I was going through when I saw her - it was a mixture of tragedy, elation and relief.

'It was so sad to think that Jayne was never going to see her beautiful baby. A midwife picked Aya up and put her little face up to Jayne's. If Jayne had been awake she would have had eye contact with her daughter.

Jayne Soliman (left) with her friend Nads Bark-Nightingale

'We then had to say goodbye to Jayne. Mahmoud said goodbye on his own because he wanted to be the last person to see her.

'He sat with her for a while and then he was told he could go and see his daughter.

'He said, "That's my Jayney" - Aya, after all, is a little piece of Jayne. He was allowed to touch Aya, and seeing her tiny fingers close in on his was just indescribable.

'And when he was finally allowed to hold her, the look on his face was just full of emotion.'

Mr Phillips added: 'To Jayne, becoming a mother was the best thing in the world that could have happened to her. She was so happy, she had always wanted to be a mum more than anything else. She lived to have a baby girl - that was the one thing she wanted in her life.

'Aya Jayne is absolutely tiny - her eyes are the size of lemon pips and her hands are about as big as my wedding ring - but she's doing brilliantly. Her dad has had the best and the worst day of his life within such a short space of time.

'It's just something you can't imagine - turning off your wife's life-support machine and then going to see your new-born daughter.'

How they give baby the best chance of life

Providing the infant is unharmed, doctors can help it survive in its own incubator - the womb.

Even if the mother is certified brain-dead, speedy arrival at hospital makes possible to keep her on life support for days or even weeks during which the baby's progress is closely monitored.

Jayne Soliman was airlifted to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after collapsing at home but was declared brain-dead hours later. Doctors managed to keep her heart beating until her daughter was safely delivered

Doctors use a ventilator to maintain breathing while the circulation is managed using IV tubes to provide fluids, drugs and blood transfusions.

Babies born at 25 weeks have a 67 per cent prospect of survival, according to statistics from the newborn charity Bliss.

This is the usual point at which doctors decide to deliver, giving the baby a good chance of life while minimising the time during which the mother's condition could go downhill.

They administer steroids in the hours beforehand to help premature babies with immature lungs breathe more easily after birth. The baby is delivered by caesarean section. The life-support system for the mother is then switched off.

Three years ago a brain-dead American woman, Susan Torres, was maintained on life support for nearly three months after a massive stroke.

It was triggered by an undiagnosed form of aggressive cancer and after she slipped into a coma her husband was told her brain functions had stopped.

He wanted her to be kept on an incubator and artificially respirated and hydrated to give their baby daughter a chance of survival. The 26-year-old mother was only 17 weeks pregnant when she died.

The case was believed to be the first in the world involving brain-stem death, although there were previous cases where women gave birth in a coma.

Mrs Torres's baby, also called Susan, survived five weeks but then died after surgery for a perforated intestine.